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. 1979 Aug;64(2):269–272. doi: 10.1104/pp.64.2.269

Histochemical Approach to Properties of Vicia faba Guard Cell Phosphoenolpyruvate Carboxylase 1

William H Outlaw Jr a, Jill Manchester a, Cynthia A Dicamelli a
PMCID: PMC543068  PMID: 16660946

Abstract

Properties of phosphoenolpyruvate carboxylase in guard cells dissected from frozen-dried Vicia faba L. leaflets were studied using quantitative histochemical techniques. Control experiments with palisade cells and whole leaflet extract proved that the single cell approach was valid. Most characteristics of enzyme activity in guard cells were identical to those in the leaflet extract. The activities were highly dependent on temperature, with maximum activity at 25 to 35 C. Half-maximum activity (with 1 millimolar phosphoenolpyruvate [PEP]) was observed at 0.1 millimolar Mg2+. Two-hundred millimolar NaCl inhibited the reaction by 50%. With frozen-dried leaflet extract, the apparent Km(PEP) was 0.15 millimolar at pH 7.7; with guard cells, the values were 1.49, 0.5 to 0.8, and 0.24 millimolar in three successive experiments. Additional experiments showed that apparent Km(PEP) of guard cell activity from plants within a single growth lot was reproducible and did not change during stomatal opening. Mixed extract experiments proved that soluble compounds were not responsible for the difference observed between leaflet and guard cell activities. The differences in apparent Km(PEP) of guard cell activity could not be unambiguously interpreted. The physiological implications of the properties of this enzyme in guard cells are discussed.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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